Shoe welting and the process of its manufacture



-April 9,. 1935.

w. c. VIZARD 1,996,844

SHOE WELTINGAND, THE PROCESS OF ITS MANUFACTURE Filed Feb. 5, 193:5

INVENTQR M/fim 0' Ward mffla/ Z16 ATTORNEY Patented Apr. 9, 1935 SHOE WELTING AND MANUF THE rnocuss or rrs ACTURE I William C. Vizard, Brockton, MassL, assignor, ,by

mesne assignments, to

Brockton, Mass.,

1 Perley' E. Barbour,

Barbour D posed hour, and Richard H.

Barbour welting Coma copartnership com- Walter G.Bar-

A plication February 3, 1933, Serial no. esaozs'f This invention relates to welting for shoes and 12 Claims.

more particularly to that ki'nd of welting which provides an integral-bead to lie against the upper and fill that portion of the in Goodyear work, is exposed tension. The process of manufacture, hereinafter described, is. especially welt crease which, 7

above the welt exadapted to welting made from grain leather although not limited to this material.

Previous types of beaded welting for Goodyear work have been produced both with and with out an integral core within the bead. The cored type produces an excellent welting of first grade quality having a firm upstanding bead that holds to the upper and maintains the shape during wear. The earlier be of the shoe ads of the uncored type do not have sufllcient strength or stiffness to withstand the breaking down strains during wear and in and shoe spreading addition previous methods of manufacture have required a blank of substantially twice the width of the finished welting.

This invention improves duction of welting having and perfects the proan uncored integral bead in that it provides a relatively heavy bead wholly adequate to provide shape insurance for the shoe. Furthermore the ture requires a method of manufacblank of considerably less width than heretofore, effecting a saving of stock that is highly important. The method of manufacture provides further advanta ges pertinent to the welt itself. For Goodyear work a full-width extension (the deck at the outer side of the bead) is obtained from the narrower blank; a strip of grain leather may be salvaged for use as stitch down welting; and, while the salvaging of the stitchdown leaves only flesh stock at the sewing edge of the finished welting, the grain of the bead is carried over its top edge sufliciently to prevent any flesh exposure after sewing to the shoe.

Other inherent advantages invention are ease of manuf flowing from this acture, there being but one cutting and one doubling operation disregarding the stitchdown salvaging step, and

the ability to form-up such an angle to the body of the bead and set it at the welting that it will lie tight against the adjacent upper.

A further and important advantage of the method of cutting or slitting the blank to provide the bead making stock is the ease with which the stock forming the outer or exposed face of the bead may be handled for the application of ornamentalfeatures to the welting. For example, the bead stock need only be lifted from the body'and the portion which forms its outer face is easily (Cl. se -'18) I reached for chain 'stitchingwith ream-(,1 may 7 thread to give the appearance of ;a sewed reverse;

the stock may be tern and colored decorative effects.

surface cut. into anyfancy patas may be desired'toxproduc'e.

Accordingly this invention I comprises welting having the features or construction, and the proc ess of its manufacturehereinafter described and claims.

The prererrdromibr the welting of this invention is illustrated in'the accompanying drawing, the views indicatingx'the sequence of steps in the process of its manufacture, and in which:

Figure 1 is a view, in perspective, illustrating the removal of a grain stitchdown from the central portion of a double strand fillet and the severance of the double fillet into two blanks;

Fig. 2 is a view, in perspective, showing the longitudinal incision to prepare a blank for forming-up;

Fig. 3 is a view, in perspective, of the prepared blank of Fig. 2 with the flap broken back preparatory to forming-up;

Fig. 4 is a view, in perspective, of the welting in the stage of forming-up;

Fig. 5 is a view, in perspective of the finished welting after forming-up and molding; and

Figs. 6 and 'I are views, in perspective, of a modified form of the welting in its preparatory and finished stages.

In the embodiment of the invention illustrated in Figs. 1 to 5 inclusive, having a plain or simply a grain faced bead when grain leather is used, I0 is a fillet of double the width required for two welt strands. For the production of 2/16" x welting, a standard size to which later dimensions given herein apply, the fillet 10 would be 2/16" x 22/16" thus enabling a /2" beaded welt to be formed up from stock of but slightly greater width.

The first cutting of the fillet 10 (Fig. 1) removes centrally from the grain side a strip I2 that is suitable for use as stitchdown welting. Following the cutter for removing the stitchdown welting is a centrally set knife for severing the web I 4 and splitting the fillet into two strands i6. Each strand is H" wide overall and a 1 3'" x grain stitchdown has been salvaged.

The second cutting is in a strand l6 (Fig. 2) and produces the body 20 of the bead and a grain -flap or bead cover 22. This is a longitudinal cut with a knife having a right angular blade form- 10.. then particularly pointedout in the appended ing a bead body 20 upstanding at the inner edge of the flesh flange 24 that is left after removal of the stitchdown l2, and a bead cover pref erably about thick.' The bead cover slit 25 is wide thus providing for a full extension to lie outside the bead on completed welting for Goodyear work. A sewing groove 26 is preferably out at this time by a suitable grooving knife.

The third stepin the manufacture of the welting is to lift the slit portion of the blank about the joinder of the flange 22 and welt body 28 as a hinge. The flange is lifted and turned back sufficiently to effectually break the fibres at the angle 29 (Fig. 3) making the entire shaft 30 available for forming-up the bead on the welt body. At this stage the inner faces of the lifted flanges 22 and 24 and the shelf 30 may conveniently be cemented.

The final operations are forming-up the bead and then molding it to the desired shape and angular position on the welt body. The first forming-up is shown by Fig. 4 wherein the flesh flange 24 is turned to a horizontal position, viewing Fig. 3, and seated on the shelf 30 at the sewing edge. This is accomplished by a suitably formed folder and may conveniently be describedas being performed in two steps although the operation is continuous. Because the height of the inner face of the bead-body 20 is less than the width of its cover flap, after doubling the former toward the latter the body 20 must be forced downward to seat on the shelf 30. This down drag on the cover causes the grain of the flap 22 to be drawn toward the sewing edge and over the top of the bead 32 that is in process of formation (see Fig. 4). At this stage the heel 3| of the bead body is seated somewhat loosely in the angle 29 prepared by the previous breaking operation. Molding rolls then operate to consolidate the bead by forcing the anchoring flange 24 well into place on the shelf 30 to provide a sharp angle 33 between the bead and the welt extension and to shape the bead as may be desired.

It is especially noted that the bead body 20 is not rolled within or enwrapped by the cover flap 22. The body 20 is merely doubled against its cover to produce a two layer bead that, after molding, is grain covered at its outer face and well over its top. An important feature of the invention enabling the production of a satisfactory bead of merely doubled stock resides in the nature of the cutting illustrated by Fig. 2. The body 20 and flange 24 are integral and because the flange extends at right angles from the base of the body stock it serves, when seated on the shelf 30, to hold the bead body in upright position and to anchor it in the angle back of the lifted bead cover. This function is attained by employing unfolded stock back of the bead face formed by the grain flap 22, that is, flesh stock out initially to an angular form to eliminate any weakening fold line, between the bead body and its anchoring flange, that would permit crushing the bead inward.

Many ways of ornamenting the bead will occur to those skilled in the art, one of which is illustrated by Figs. 6 and 7. Here the bead cover 22, before forming-up and cementing, is stitched with a seam 35 preferably a chain stitch seam with the chain at the grain face. The bead 32 is thereafter formed-up as described and the molding leaves the ornamental thread seam at the outer face of the bead or that face which is exposed when the welting is secured in the welt crease of a shoe, and simulates the appearance of a sewed reverse welt. This welting has, however, a great advantage over the usual Goodyear work reverse welting in that it is pre-stitched, the inseam being sufficient to hold the bead firmly to the upper, and the single thread 36 or weaker side of the stitching is protected from wear by complete enclosure within the head of the welting. Any equivalent ornamentation may be similarly applied and various types of decorative weltings obtained, or the bead cover may be colored and cut to produce patterns for decorative effects in the manner disclosed in the patent to Harry Lyon, No. 1,687,459, October 9, 1928.

The nature and scope of the invention having been indicated and its preferred embodiment and method of manufacture having been specifically,

described, that is claimed as new is:-

1. Beaded leather welting having a grain-faced bead comprising a flap split longitudinally from beneath the grain of the body stock and upturned from the underlying flesh, said flap being maintained in its bead-forming position by an integral right-angular section of flesh stock seated behind it on the shelf exposed by the upturned flap.

2. Beaded welting having a welt body, and a bead comprising a flap split longitudinally from one face of the body stock and upstanding therefrom, said flap having a terminal portion initially split from the body stock to an integral angular section and said terminal portion being pressed against the flap to maintain it in its upstanding position upon the welt body.

3. Beaded leather welting comprising a body having an integral bead intermediate the welt extension and sewing edge formed of a doubled strip incised from the welt body comprising a grain covered face and a flesh body, said flesh bead body having an integral anchoring flange extending angularly therefrom, the angular relation of said anchoring flange to the flesh bead body being unchanged from its natural position as initially incised from the welt body.

4. Leather welting having a body and an integral bead projecting therefrom consisting of an incised and doubled strip of welt body stock presenting a grain face and a flesh back, said grain face being ornamented by a thread seam.

5. Leather welting having a welt body and a bead projecting therefrom consisting of a grain flap incised longitudinally and turned up from the welt body and held in position by an integral flesh body doubled against it, said grain flap having a thread seam sewn therethrough and said flesh body covering the thread of said seam at the back face of said flap.

6. A blank for beaded welting having a body and a flap incised longitudinally from one face of the body, said flap having an integral depending portion of the full thickness of said body and. an integral flange projecting outwardly from the lower edge of said depending portion.

7. A blank for beaded leather welting having a body and a grain flap incised longitudinally from beneath the grain face of the body, the unsecured edge of said grain flap terminating in a rigid right angular section incised from the flesh stock of said body.

8. The method of making beaded leather welting which comprises severing a stitchdown strip centrally from the grain face of a double strand fillet, splitting said fillet centrally through the remaining flesh stock to produce two strands each having a flesh flange at one edge, slitting a strand longitudinally by a cut through the flesh face and inward of said flange to form a bead body and then parallel to and beneath the grain to form a bead cover, lifting the flap thus formed, cementing the flap and flnally doubling the bead body against the bead cover and seating the flesh flange on the shelf produced by slitting beneath the grain.

9. The method of making beaded welting which comprises producing a strand having a longitudinal flange at the edge of one face, slitting said strand through said flanged face inward of said flange and then parallel to the other face producing an integral flap having a right-angular section at its free edge formed in part by said flange, then forming-up a head by lifting said flap and seating said section on the shelf exposed by said lifting of the flap, cement having been applied to the contacting surfaces at a suitable time.

10. The method of making beaded welting which comprises producing a grain leather strand having a flesh flange at one longitudinal edge, slitting said strand through its flesh face inward of said flange producing a rigid right-angular flesh section, and then parallel to its grain face producing an integral grain flap, then lifting and cementing said flap and forming-up a bead by seating said flesh section in the angle behind said lifted flap.

11. The method of making beaded welting which comprises producing a grain leather strand having a flesh flange at one longitudinal edge, slitting said strand through its flesh face inward of said flange producing a rigid right-angular flesh section, and then parallel to its grain face producing an integral grain flap, then displacing said flesh section upwardly from its position at the edge of said strand and seating it back of the grain flap, also lifted by said displacement, in the same relation to said flap as it originally had to the edge of the strand, the contacting surfaces having been cemented at a suitable time.

12. The method of making beaded welting which comprises producing a strand having a longitudinal flange at the edge of one face, slitting said strand through said flanged face inward of said flange and then parallel to the other face producing an integral flap having a right-angular section at its free edge formed in part by said flange, then lifting said flap, sewing a thread seam therethrough, cementing, and forming-up a head by doubling said section upon the flap and against the thread of the seam and seating its flange on the shelf exposed by said lifting of the flap.

WILLIAM C. VIZARD. 

